Judge to Rule on Suit Over Shooting

A San Fernando judge is set to decide if the North Valley Jewish Community Center can be sued for failing to protect 5-year-old Benjamin Kadish from a racist gunman who opened fire inside the Granada Hills facility in August 1999, injuring the boy and four others.

Benjamin’s parents, Eleanor and Charles Kadish, sued the center in April, claiming the center’s officials should have known the facility “was a target for anti-Semitic attacks” and taken appropriate security precautions, such as locking entrances and hiring guards.

But defense lawyers contend that Buford O. Furrow’s hateful attack on children attending summer camp was unforeseeable, and called the Kadishes’ lawsuit “inappropriate, divisive and utterly unsupported by the law.” They are seeking to have the case thrown out.

The Kadishes sued the north Valley center, the West Valley Jewish Community Center and the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles, the nonprofit group that operates the centers, for unspecified damages for past and future medical care and other expenses.

They contend the north Valley community center was negligent and breached its contract with the parents by failing to provide “a safe environment for the children.”

In the summer of 1999, Eleanor and Charles Kadish enrolled their two boys in summer camp at the West Valley center, according to the suit.

Benjamin, then 5, and his brother, Joshua, then 9, were bused from there to a camp at the north Valley center, where on Aug. 10, Furrow walked into the main lobby and fired 20 to 30 rounds from an assault rifle.

Benjamin, the most seriously injured victim at the center, was shot through the leg and stomach and spent six weeks in a hospital before returning to his West Hills home.

Within hours of the shootout, Furrow killed postal worker Joseph Ileto. He pleaded guilty in January to killing Ileto and wounding Benjamin and the four others. He was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to life in prison without parole.

Since the shootout, Benjamin has suffered “severe and permanent emotional and mental distress and anguish, fright, shock, pain, discomfort and anxiety,” according to the Kadishes’ lawsuit.

Benjamin’s brother and parents also suffered “serious and traumatic emotional distress” from their initial fears that Benjamin might be targeted by Furrow, an anti-Semite and avowed white supremacist, the suit says.

Joshua is distressed because he knew Benjamin “was in the direct line of fire . . . and was unable to provide protection for his little brother,” the suit contends.

And Eleanor and Charles Kadish suffer from “the knowledge . . . that their children were assaulted and injured,” the suit says.

The plaintiffs say the center should have known it was “an easy target for [Furrow’s] hate crimes” and had better security. The risks are higher, they said, because Jewish children are potential targets of an anti-Semitic attack.

Their lawsuit alleges that Furrow scouted other Jewish institutions but decided against terrorizing them because they had on-site security. He reportedly considered the Museum of Tolerance, Skirball Cultural Center and the University of Judaism.

“Had the [north Valley center] adopted the same level of security prevalent at other facilities, this tragedy could have been avoided,” the plaintiffs said in court documents.

The center had no locks on entry doors, no security guards, no emergency plans nor other security precautions in place, according to the lawsuit.

Although they believe the law is on their side, defense lawyers stress that the lawsuit has broader public policy implications.

“There cannot be a duty on the [center] to prevent the likes of Buford Furrow from doing this terrible thing,” attorney Scott Edelman said. “They are suing a victim.”

Suing any minority group for hate crimes committed against them is “a dangerous notion,” Edelman said. “If an African American church is firebombed, can the congregation sue” the church because it should have known the potential risks of serving black churchgoers? he asked.

Although the dismissal of a civil lawsuit in the early stages is highly unlikely, Edelman said his clients are asking Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William A. MacLaughlin to do just that.

“There is absolutely no support for this kind of lawsuit,” he said.

A hearing is set for Dec. 4.